You work in an agency which does Pharma? You actually work on a pharmaceutical account? Or maybe you just enjoy pharmaceutical products? Check out this ad for Leiras, a pharmaceutical company in Finland producing the "Pamol" painkiller - for serious headaches. This is lightyears ahead of any Tv pharma ad I've seen in the last years. You cannot do anything but salute Finland and Leiras for their very open creative policy on pharma advertising. The commercial was created by agency Bob Helsinki, and directed by Thomas Jonsgarden (from Flodellfilm in Stockholm).(Thanks Annick from Moskito!)

You probably don't know that, but the much-awaited Playstation 3 launch in Japan was held on Nov. 11. (ours is next friday, Nov. 17). Sony had been deploying incredible efforts before, including these very short ads, which might appear quite odd to the untrained western eye - but the fans (and everyone who can read japanese) know their very unique particularity. Just look carefully, and think "launch date".

(If you didn't figure it out, you can see 11/11 (the launch date) in each of the commercials.)

Now, check out what is a Sony Playstation 3 video game console launch in Japan.

Here's the latest Coca-Cola spot from agency Mother, produced by Looking Glass Films. It features "Santa delivering the gift of Coca-Cola to a girl every year from the 1930's to the present day". Very heartwarming. And that's one well-preserved 76 year-old woman.

Pancrom is a digital studio in Brazil that deals with printing, color correction and retouching services. The copy reads: "Color faithfulness only at Pancrom". You couldn't possibly have more vivid art direction, and a more vivid message. Great concept, agency unknown. Credits please! (Thanks, TwentyFour!)

Intelligent and remarkable guerilla operation for Accessorize, a worldwide fashion accessory boutique chain, created by Saatchi and Saatchi. The featured example is in the streets of Geneva, Switzerlan (you can also notice the price tag on the necklaces: you'll actually find that item in the stores). (Thanks, Marketing Alternatif!)

Usually I think ads that feature sexual themes are easy and cliché attention grabbers, but I guess that in this case the approach is justified, and directly linked to the product's main attribut (I won't say benefit): so hot it hurts. Good idea for Heinz ketchup, somewhere in the asian world (you'll probably also see another version of the same concept for another product, but the exection is poorer). If anybody knows the agency credits, write them in a comment. (Thanks, Brief Blog!)

Coolz0r will probably kill me for taking two of his post ideas onto AdKrispies, but I couldn't pass by this excellent ad for Time Magazine without the need for comment (see below):

This "cover" campaign has been a long runner advertising platform for Time, and it's not hard to find out why: two words and a picture are enough to raise questions. With such an ad, Time magazine doesn't define itself as a source of information on current events, it defines itself as THE source of information to find out the TRUTH. "Know WHY". There could be a thousand reasons why, all of which could be biased by many outstanding factors. There could be a thousand other realities claiming their right to be the TRUTH. But the core idea behind Time magazine's positioning is not to present you current events in a general, cover-everything-objectively-making-sure-we-inform-well, greyish manner. Time takes position behind one aspect of an event. And Time presents the TRUTH on that aspect. Bold and highly debatable approach? Yes. Powerful marketing? Yes. Both are what Time magazine was built upon: communicate powerful facts that generate powerful debate.

Logitech recently launched a viral campaign to promote their webcams. The campaign features funny sitcom shorts about couple relationships and work reality - all tied up with webcam sauce. While I salute the idea of going viral, I feel like it's an incomplete effort. I fell on Part Two ("Our Secret") of the videos on the Adverblog blog, and at the end of that video Logitech invited me to watch Part One ("Working Late") on their website at http://logitech.com/quickcam. Part Two was funny enough to have me want to check Part One out, so I actually headed there. Well (as you will see if you click), instead of the promised video, I'm greeted with a full page, full corporate-format selling pitch on the Logitech Quickcams. Can't find a single link to the video. Wow. Not.

Seems like announcers are slowly getting out of the cold on the fact that its worth investing money in word-of-mouth marketing, yet don't totally grasp how it works. Don't think people will watch one funny lil' movie, then head to your webpage to read your corporate blabber about Quickcams, and go "WOW! I really want to know more about that Quickcam! Actually, I NEED ONE!". *buzzer* Wrong way, josé. People will head to your website looking for the other promised movie, and if they can't find it, or that no content there keeps their interest, that interest goes from 100% to 0% faster than you can say "erectile dysfunction".

If you're going to do viral, assume the decision - don't just throw some bucks into it as a sideshow. Make sure your content is consistent, and that people will experience something authentic and captivating from start to end. For example, instead of sending people to their corporate website, Logitech could've created a page called "Only The Webcam Knows" on which people can post their funny little webcam secrets (rated All Audiences, of course), and also see the Logitech shorts - which they could then send to 5 of their friends. Much better word-of-mouth follow-through.

Anyways, I'm just rambling - here are both videos. Interesting enough to share with friends? You be the judge. (Thanks, Adverblog!)